My degree is in journalism and I worked as a reporter for two years before becoming a teacher. Six years later, I guess I've forgotten how difficult a job it really is to write the news.
Working on the Lovely story and my personal web story reminded me that researching, interviewing, writing and editing are difficult to do - and do well - under deadline.
I especially felt frazzled when trying to scribble direct quotes during Lovely's conference and again today during the opinion presentation. I looked back this afternoon and realized that many of the quotes were either incomplete or illegible. Wow - and I'm a professional! It was a gentle reminder that what we ask of our student reporters is different from (and often, more difficult than) anything else they have to do in school.
I guess what the past two days have taught me is to never stop being a reporter first and foremost. It keeps the dedication and determination of my students in perspective and makes me appreciate the effort they put in to getting the perfect quote or rewriting a lede 10 times before letting it stand.
I am really excited about being back in the role of a journalist. I feel like all of the assignments we have completed have taught me two things: something that will make me a better teacher, and something that will remind me what it feels like to be the student.
Fossil Ridge High School
Fort Collins, Colo.
I have been out of the game longer than you, but it resonated with me when you wrote, "never stop being a reporter first and foremost." Those skills have been a little rusty this week, but I'm oiling them, and they are coming back. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great blog post. It's been a while since I worked as an reporter and I forgot how that adrenaline rush felt when working on a a story for deadline. I kept thinking that the edit desk should be calling me at any time to quiz me about my story.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate how a lot of the things we are doing here put us back into the role of student. It's so easy to ask them to do things and have high expectations. It's nice to have that gut check of being put on the spot. It's good to always remember that feeling so that you truly never ask a student to do something that you could/would not do.
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